Valsecchi to consider Lotus future

Davide Valsecchi admits he will consider his future at Lotus over the winter having been overlooked for a race seat.

Kimi Raikkonen's back surgery ruled him out of the final two races of the season and as the team's reserve driver Valsecchi was one of the favourites for the drive. However, Lotus opted for the experience of Heikki Kovalainen, and while Valsecchi understood the choice he told ESPN exclusively it has made him question whether it's the best place for his career.

"I could have a chance and I missed it, so for my career it is not something fantastic," Valsecchi said. "I was champion last year - I was the GP2 champion - so I believe that I can be there and fighting with the others. I didn't have the chance and the opportunity to race at the beginning of the season and now I was close and I missed it. So it's a bad sign for me, but we don't give up. We never know in life."

Asked if he thought he would remain with Lotus in 2014, Valsecchi replied: "I don't know, we'll have to check.

"To be honest I would like to race in some way if I can. On the sports side I am really suffering in this situation, being here and sometimes not being useful. Considering when it's the right time to use me I missed the chance; they used someone else and that means I was not very useful for the team this year. It didn't give me so much satisfaction in my personal life, but we never know, we just know that the team had the right to decide."

And Valsecchi also dismissed the notion that it could have jeopardised his future hopes if he had been selected and experienced two poor races.

"I think that for my career it was better to have the opportunity. Also because if you consider how our car was performing this weekend it could have been a really, really, really great opportunity."

Chris Medland is assistant editor at ESPNF1 Chris Medland, who in his youth even found the Pacific GPs entertaining, talked his way in to work at the British Grand Prix and was somehow retained for three years. He also worked on the BBC's F1 output prior to becoming assistant editor ahead of the 2011 season